Spit Pedestrian Bridge Concept Design

The Roads and Maritime Services (RMS) is proposing the erection of a pedestrian bridge over the Spit Road at its intersection with Parriwi Road in the Middle Harbour area of Sydney. Jackson Teece are part of the team put forward by SMEC, providing urban design and architectural services.

The proposed bridge, which crosses a key arterial corridor of the Sydney road network, is situated within an iconic and visually sensitive maritime context. Its high profile location demanded a sensitive and sophisticated design response that started with a detailed urban design assessment of the site, its qualities, and surrounding context.

Four concept design options were developed for the Spit Pedestrian Bridge for presentation to the community. The designs were inspired by the key features of the context- the water, the white masts of the boats, the marine industry. The colours were inspired by the aqua blues of the water and the sky, the yellow ochres of the sandstone cliffs and the emerald greens of the surrounding vegetation. The design of the bridge considers user requirements such as pedestrian desire lines, framing of views, comfort and safety; as well as structural, transportation and constructional constraints.

Jackson Teece also produced a separate liveability investigation document for RMS detailing an assessment of the effects of the bridge on the liveability of the affected area. This investigation was undertaken as part of the assessment of the context and its outcomes informed the bridge design to generate a bespoke design outcome. The document is intended to be one of the case studies in the RMS guideline document ‘Contributing to Liveable Communities: Roads as Links and Places’.